[AsciiJC]

Im actually impressed by this! Looks very clean and well done. Ive been trying to diy some earbuds myself lately but I hope to get to that level soon lol.

 

[BotByte]

Hey ya'll! Been loving going through this rabbit hole and being going quite crazy in the process. Thank you ya'll crazies in here for your insight and advice, especially @furyossa, @Rary, @Themilkman46290, @assassin10000, @earfanatic. Ya'll made me login back into this damn old account!

Could I ask for driver recommendations? To keep my sanity?

Info:

Coming from Yincrow X6 and looking for something better and also different.

Music genres: Mainly Rock, Electronic, Hip-hop, but everything else too.

Sound preference: I prefer a more balanced sound leaning on more bassy. I always need a touch of bass in my headphones to bring an "arena" sound, but do love me my warm mids for male vocals and just a touch of sparkle in the highs. I'm not shy to treble and don't get sensitive easily in the upper range, but do like a touch of bass to ground things--emphasis on this as I know many earbuds don't throw a lot of bass.

Yincrow X6 gives me that bass. Enough for electronic and hip-hop, but I'd like more sub-bass for those genres and more control. But they lack the upper sparkle I want for rock and acoustic stuff. I've got two pairs; one with full foams, one with wide donuts that barely lets me enjoy the upper-end.

Ideally, I'd like a few earbuds. One as a bassy set, one as a neutral/reference set, and one for some higher stuff. I like to pick headphones for whatever I listen to. But this can be a progression into madness, first step is bassy/fun/balanced, next is neutral with a touch of bass.

I'd also like to explore shells. MX500s are fine for me, but I have smaller ears so maybe PK or Docomo shells would fit better as I don't get a great seal. For example, double foam MX500s like to pop out of my ears, single foam are fine but a bit squeezed. I'd like to try all three.

From my exhausting research:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/page-247#post-16428936
@furyossa's titanium tuning looks great for a bassy set. I know the above uses the full "blue dot" titanium driver which is harder to tune, so I think I'll get the composite titanium driver first then the full (which is cheaper anyways).

Any thoughts on grabbing a HDD-1 red-film and cable swapping that? Not a lot of info on how the old drivers sound as a whole. Not sure what sound sig they have.

Same with that, I don't know about the PK2 drivers in the scrapped Docomo bodies on Chitty. Might be fun for the shells, and they only require a recable.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/page-258#post-16507474
@earfanatic's PK-hearts look phenomenal, and maybe a neutral/balanced signature? I wonder if I can use these shells and covers to reduce the price of the shells https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000298847825.html

For mid and high focused... I'm not too sure. I think @Themilkman46290 recommended 15.4mm 68ohm graphene drivers for that. There's also the TG-38S which might be a nice difference.

Any help, guidance, and advice would be absolutely amazing.

 

[Rary]

Hey ya'll! Been loving going through this rabbit hole and being going quite crazy in the process. Thank you ya'll crazies in here for your insight and advice, especially @furyossa, @Rary, @Themilkman46290, @assassin10000, @earfanatic. Ya'll made me login back into this damn old account!

Could I ask for driver recommendations? To keep my sanity?

Info:

Coming from Yincrow X6 and looking for something better and also different.

Music genres: Mainly Rock, Electronic, Hip-hop, but everything else too.

Sound preference: I prefer a more balanced sound leaning on more bassy. I always need a touch of bass in my headphones to bring an "arena" sound, but do love me my warm mids for male vocals and just a touch of sparkle in the highs. I'm not shy to treble and don't get sensitive easily in the upper range, but do like a touch of bass to ground things--emphasis on this as I know many earbuds don't throw a lot of bass.

Yincrow X6 gives me that bass. Enough for electronic and hip-hop, but I'd like more sub-bass for those genres and more control. But they lack the upper sparkle I want for rock and acoustic stuff. I've got two pairs; one with full foams, one with wide donuts that barely lets me enjoy the upper-end.

Ideally, I'd like a few earbuds. One as a bassy set, one as a neutral/reference set, and one for some higher stuff. I like to pick headphones for whatever I listen to. But this can be a progression into madness, first step is bassy/fun/balanced, next is neutral with a touch of bass.

I'd also like to explore shells. MX500s are fine for me, but I have smaller ears so maybe PK or Docomo shells would fit better as I don't get a great seal. For example, double foam MX500s like to pop out of my ears, single foam are fine but a bit squeezed. I'd like to try all three.

From my exhausting research:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/page-247#post-16428936
@furyossa's titanium tuning looks great for a bassy set. I know the above uses the full "blue dot" titanium driver which is harder to tune, so I think I'll get the composite titanium driver first then the full (which is cheaper anyways).

Any thoughts on grabbing a HDD-1 red-film and cable swapping that? Not a lot of info on how the old drivers sound as a whole. Not sure what sound sig they have.

Same with that, I don't know about the PK2 drivers in the scrapped Docomo bodies on Chitty. Might be fun for the shells, and they only require a recable.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/page-258#post-16507474
@earfanatic's PK-hearts look phenomenal, and maybe a neutral/balanced signature? I wonder if I can use these shells and covers to reduce the price of the shells https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000298847825.html

For mid and high focused... I'm not too sure. I think @Themilkman46290 recommended 15.4mm 68ohm graphene drivers for that. There's also the TG-38S which might be a nice difference.

Any help, guidance, and advice would be absolutely amazing.

Hi, welcome to the crazy world of DIY Earbuds

As a first diy build i would recommend trying the DIY EMX500 drivers, they are cheap and in stock MX500+medium horse shoe the sound is pretty good, the bass is punchy and there is a good amount of sparkle. I consider them to be a small upgrade over Vido/X6.

If you are interested in testing rivets i suggest trying to follow my guide (you can find it here, line 60) .
It's easier than Furyossa's mod and if you like bass the sound is phenomenal

For a fun V shape, 64ohm full Ti is a must have, in rivet mod of course.
For a more balanced sound and above average SQ the 150ohm Blue Glue is great.

I don't have much experience with smaller drivers but i suggest skipping the HDD-1 for now. It's really hard to recable and you are not guaranteed to get a genuine or working pair. If you can find it for cheap (<10€) it might be worth a try but beware of fakes.

 

[BotByte]

Hi, welcome to the crazy world of DIY Earbuds

As a first diy build i would recommend trying the DIY EMX500 drivers, they are cheap and in stock MX500+medium horse shoe the sound is pretty good, the bass is punchy and there is a good amount of sparkle. I consider them to be a small upgrade over Vido/X6.

If you are interested in testing rivets i suggest trying to follow my guide (you can find it here, line 60) .
It's easier than Furyossa's mod and if you like bass the sound is phenomenal

For a fun V shape, 64ohm full Ti is a must have, in rivet mod of course.
For a more balanced sound and above average SQ the 150ohm Blue Glue is great.

I don't have much experience with smaller drivers but i suggest skipping the HDD-1 for now. It's really hard to recable and you are not guaranteed to get a genuine or working pair.
If you can find it for cheap (<10€) it might be worth a try but beware of fakes.

Thank you for the warm welcome!

The EMX500 drivers sound great, but maybe down the road. I don't have anything else to buy from that store and shipping is slow. Drivers + faster shipping outweighs the cost of the drivers versus other "better" drivers with faster shipping. How about black dot 19-21s? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000281063945.html

Oh! I've seen your spreadsheet, but didn't know you had a guide! Hell yes! I'll totally do that with the full Ti drivers.

Should I bother with the composite 64ohm Ti drivers? If I get my kicks with the full Ti with mods, the higher priced composite Ti doesn't sound as appealing. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000177042681.html

The blue-glue drivers were also on my radar, but with your sound impressions and @furyossa's mention of it being in his top three, it's going be bought.

Yeah, scouring for old drivers and shells kinda sound a bit iffy from the start to me too. If I choose so, I'll be careful and follow the guides on spotting fake ones that someone posted here.

From your prior posts and your spreadsheet, it seems like you prefer bass as well. But despite that, any recs on drivers for mids and highs? Grado-style sound sig for rock.

Current shortlist:

Full Ti 64ohm
Blue-glue 150ohm
19-21

Thank you so very much!

 

[assassin10000]

Im actually impressed by this! Looks very clean and well done. Ive been trying to diy some earbuds myself lately but I hope to get to that level soon lol.

Thanks.

They're now paired with a xinhs cable, which showed up today (they were kind enough to make them with no earhook at my request).

Hey ya'll! Been loving going through this rabbit hole and being going quite crazy in the process. Thank you ya'll crazies in here for your insight and advice, especially @furyossa, @Rary, @Themilkman46290, @assassin10000, @earfanatic. Ya'll made me login back into this damn old account!

Could I ask for driver recommendations? To keep my sanity?

Info:

Coming from Yincrow X6 and looking for something better and also different.

Music genres: Mainly Rock, Electronic, Hip-hop, but everything else too.

Sound preference: I prefer a more balanced sound leaning on more bassy. I always need a touch of bass in my headphones to bring an "arena" sound, but do love me my warm mids for male vocals and just a touch of sparkle in the highs. I'm not shy to treble and don't get sensitive easily in the upper range, but do like a touch of bass to ground things--emphasis on this as I know many earbuds don't throw a lot of bass.

Yincrow X6 gives me that bass. Enough for electronic and hip-hop, but I'd like more sub-bass for those genres and more control. But they lack the upper sparkle I want for rock and acoustic stuff. I've got two pairs; one with full foams, one with wide donuts that barely lets me enjoy the upper-end.

Ideally, I'd like a few earbuds. One as a bassy set, one as a neutral/reference set, and one for some higher stuff. I like to pick headphones for whatever I listen to. But this can be a progression into madness, first step is bassy/fun/balanced, next is neutral with a touch of bass.

I'd also like to explore shells. MX500s are fine for me, but I have smaller ears so maybe PK or Docomo shells would fit better as I don't get a great seal. For example, double foam MX500s like to pop out of my ears, single foam are fine but a bit squeezed. I'd like to try all three.

From my exhausting research:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/page-247#post-16428936
@furyossa's titanium tuning looks great for a bassy set. I know the above uses the full "blue dot" titanium driver which is harder to tune, so I think I'll get the composite titanium driver first then the full (which is cheaper anyways).

Any thoughts on grabbing a HDD-1 red-film and cable swapping that? Not a lot of info on how the old drivers sound as a whole. Not sure what sound sig they have.

Same with that, I don't know about the PK2 drivers in the scrapped Docomo bodies on Chitty. Might be fun for the shells, and they only require a recable.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-earbuds.822327/page-258#post-16507474
@earfanatic's PK-hearts look phenomenal, and maybe a neutral/balanced signature? I wonder if I can use these shells and covers to reduce the price of the shells https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000298847825.html

For mid and high focused... I'm not too sure. I think @Themilkman46290 recommended 15.4mm 68ohm graphene drivers for that. There's also the TG-38S which might be a nice difference.

Any help, guidance, and advice would be absolutely amazing.

For a PK shell I'd recommend the 14.8mm 32Ω titanium driver. Closest of the DIY drivers to the 150Ω redfilm which is getting harder to come by.

It should make for a good balanced/neutral bud, with good extension on both ends.

 

[BotByte]

For a PK shell I'd recommend the 14.8mm 32Ω titanium driver. Closest of the DIY drivers to the 150Ω redfilm which is getting harder to come by.

It should make for a good balanced/neutral bud, with good extension on both ends.

I think my first step into DIY earbuds is going to be focusing on MX500 shells and drivers, but next would love to try @earfanatic's build out for sure! If what they say, graph, and put together is true it's absolute genius! It's on the future build list!

What scares me about the build is the driver/shell situation. You suggest to take the titanium drivers from the mesh covers and put them into PK-style covers, right? Killing a driver scares the hell out of me. Is it really that much of a difference, or do the mesh covers just not fit the PK shell?

Also, the cost of "proper" PK shells are ridiculous! And salvaging old covers. There's cheaper shell/cover combos out there that (I think either you or someone else) suggest to file down the mounting area... and I've heard of folks having issues mounting the drivers in these covers.

Thank you very much!

 

[assassin10000]

I think my first step into DIY earbuds is going to be focusing on MX500 shells and drivers, but next would love to try your build out for sure! If what you say, graph, and put together is true it's absolute genius! It's on the future build list!

What scares me about the build is the driver/shell situation. You suggest to take the titanium drivers from the mesh covers and put them into PK-style covers, right? Killing a driver scares the hell out of me. Is it really that much of a difference, or do the mesh covers just not fit the PK shell?

Also, the cost of "proper" PK shells are ridiculous! And salvaging old covers. There's cheaper shell/cover combos out there that (I think either you or someone else) suggest to file down the mounting area... and I've heard of folks having issues mounting the drivers in these covers.

Thank you very much!

I use the stainless covers and sand/file down the newer larger PK shells to fit. No need to swap the driver from the cover.

You can also just buy 3 pairs of the OG shape shells for about $20 iirc.

 

[BotByte]

I use the stainless covers and sand/file down the newer larger PK shells to fit. No need to swap the driver from the cover.

You can also just buy 3 pairs of the OG shape shells for about $20 iirc.

OMG, that's so much stress gone!

I've seen you recommend those shells, and they just seem rather steep compared to the 5pks for $5-6. A little sanding isn't a big deal to me. If the build becomes THE ULTIMATE ONE then I might go a new build in the better shells.

Thank you!

 

[melodia]

A little help please.
How can someone determine where is the left/right and where is the ground on the drivers?
For example, in the picture, the upper driver is a monk plus, and it is painted on the left. Below is a tingo tc2000 driver and is painted on the right.
how can i decide for every different driver that i try?

And what happens if i connect both drivers the same way, even if it is wrong?

 

[BotByte]

A little help please.
How can someone determine where is the left/right and where is the ground on the drivers?
For example, in the picture, the upper driver is a monk plus, and it is painted on the left. Below is a tingo tc2000 driver and is painted on the right.
how can i decide for every different driver that i try?

And what happens if i connect both drivers the same way, even if it is wrong?

DIY earbud noob here, but with other drivers and whatnot, marked side is your positive. It's marked because different drivers can have different positive sides.

 

[Rary]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

The EMX500 drivers sound great, but maybe down the road. I don't have anything else to buy from that store and shipping is slow. Drivers + faster shipping outweighs the cost of the drivers versus other "better" drivers with faster shipping. How about black dot 19-21s? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000281063945.html

Oh! I've seen your spreadsheet, but didn't know you had a guide! Hell yes! I'll totally do that with the full Ti drivers.

Should I bother with the composite 64ohm Ti drivers? If I get my kicks with the full Ti with mods, the higher priced composite Ti doesn't sound as appealing. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000177042681.html

The blue-glue drivers were also on my radar, but with your sound impressions and @furyossa's mention of it being in his top three, it's going be bought.

Yeah, scouring for old drivers and shells kinda sound a bit iffy from the start to me too. If I choose so, I'll be careful and follow the guides on spotting fake ones that someone posted here.

From your prior posts and your spreadsheet, it seems like you prefer bass as well. But despite that, any recs on drivers for mids and highs? Grado-style sound sig for rock.

Current shortlist:

Full Ti 64ohm
Blue-glue 150ohm
19-21

Thank you so very much!

19-21 are good drivers but don't expect too much out of them. It's a good starting point for all beginners but i consider them to be a side grade compared to your X6.
If you manage to get free shipping from NSC i would rater buy the 32ohm Ti composite, i consider them to be among the best cheap 32ohm drivers and they are less fragile (19-21 can break easily if you don't have previous experience soldering).

I would skip the 64ohm TI composite for now, especially if you plan to test Full Ti in a rivet mod.
64ohm Ti composite have more bass quantity and slightly better technicalities but cost 3 times more.

For mids and highs i would suggest to try a graphene coated drivers, the 68ohm Graphene should be a good pick but i never tested it. I don't like thin sounding or overly bright earbuds so i never really invested much time and money in bright leaning drivers.


I added those guides a few days ago, i'm currently in the process of updating and expanding the list, i will add a few diy guides for newcomers too in the coming days.
If you have any question before building your first earbuds, feel free to ask

A little help please.
How can someone determine where is the left/right and where is the ground on the drivers?
For example, in the picture, the upper driver is a monk plus, and it is painted on the left. Below is a tingo tc2000 driver and is painted on the right.
how can i decide for every different driver that i try?

And what happens if i connect both drivers the same way, even if it is wrong?

There is no left and right driver, the placement of the red dot could be on either sides.
You are supposed to solder Right/Left (Red/Green cable) on the marked side, the Ground (Orange cable) on the other side.
If you solder them incorrectly the sound will be out of phase, you can check it here:

 

[BotByte]

19-21 are good drivers but don't expect too much out of them. It's a good starting point for all beginners but i consider them to be a side grade compared to your X6.
If you manage to get free shipping from NSC i would rater buy the 32ohm Ti composite, i consider them to be among the best cheap 32ohm drivers and they are less fragile (19-21 can break easily if you don't have previous experience soldering).

I would skip the 64ohm TI composite for now, especially if you plan to test Full Ti in a rivet mod.
64ohm Ti composite have more bass quantity and slightly better technicalities but cost 3 times more.

For mids and highs i would suggest to try a graphene coated driver, the 68ohm Graphene should be a good pick but i never tested it. I don't like thin sounding or overly bright earbuds so i never really invested much time and money in bright leaning drivers.

I added those guides a few days ago, i'm currently in the process of updating and expanding the list, i will add a few diy guides for newcomers too in the coming days.
If you have any question before building your first earbuds, feel free to ask

Awesome, thank you! I made an order before your post, but it all looks good. I made up the order as a "dip my toes in the water" sort of deal, focusing on as little money spent to make a few buds. Full Ti driver, the 19-21 (want to try it, it'll be my first test driver), and the 14.6mm titanium driver for the PK-hearts. Enough shells, cables, mod stuff, and damping as instructed by either you or others. All in all, like $35 for three complete buds. Now to play the waiting game...

Hopefully I can receive stuff before 11.11, build a few buds and see if I want to go DEEPER and catch things on sale. That would be 150ohm blue glue, 68ohm graphene, maybe the 130ohm berry? Those would call for more shells, damping stuff, and cables so deeper into the wallet as well.

I'd love to see those guides! When I do my projects, I'll document them and share them with impressions here.

Thanks again!

 

[assassin10000]

Well, these scale up with a better source. I had only tried them with my bt20s and my laptops on board sound for watching tv/movies. I tried them the other night with my tc35b and there is a definite improvement with a little amping.

I now use the tc35b with my laptop and these.

Pic of them on the new cable.

 

[rprodrigues]

@assassin10000

Could you share a photo of the drivers used by LBBS?

 

[assassin10000]

@assassin10000

Could you share a photo of the drivers used by LBBS?

This is currently the only photo I have of them, from when I took my white pair apart. It's the one I MMCX modded.